I don't support the selection, employment, nomination etc of anyone because of gender, cultural background or sexual orientation either Bookfan. My point; he must not think so little of women anymore because "people do change" He must be one of the changed people.

Hillary changed how she viewed gay rights. It was ok she didn't believe loving gay people were entitled to legally marry and have the benefits other loving straight couples enjoyed, but then she did, so all was ok.

I know some of you have, or have families that benefit from the affordable health care act so I am not trying to sound vicious or attacking. I’m happy you have benefitted but I'm in agreement it should end. From my experience as a small business owner/operator, we gladly offer a decent health care package to our employees and still would if not forced to do so, the affordable health care act does more harm than good. I still fight with the Government for my healthcare out of principal. I digress, I am not patting myself on the back regarding offering insurance, rather supporting that I have some experience looking at and picking plans, getting feedback on heath care packages and the affordable health care act. We must document all who decline and report. I have received feedback from speaking with a lot of hourly wage employees and I speak to a lot of people, working people who should be able to benefit but don’t. None of them wants/likes the affordable health care plan.

Additionally, I have spoken to dozens of hourly wage earners who have had full time jobs reduced to part time jobs, needing to now work 2 jobs when they were getting by on one – and they still don’t have healthcare, they run from Affordable Healthcare Plans. I won’t relate the opinions of many small business owners who are not paying themselves wages so they can keep their business afloat during a bad economy, you can guess, or know already. Reading in GL is honestly the first place I’ve ever heard anyone say they like the affordable health care plan.

Previously when I wrote about affordable health care act the response here was “it’s wrong of the large corporations to reduce their employees hours so as to not have to offer healthcare”. Of course it’s wrong, but that’s the reality. We need an overhaul of the heath care system for sure. The affordable Health care act will get in the way of any reform.

This is one of the big reasons and issues where the 2 party system sucks. If you don’t believe both are equally responsible than you are biased.

Wait Lynx, come on, because Putin is going rogue that's Trump starting a war? This is getting ludicrous, did he cause cancer too?

If Hillary were president elect that would make a difference? If Putin attacks it's going to be Obama that responds, not Trump or Hillary because he has to. Not for nothing but for the big education... There are treaty's, no matter who is CIC, his actions are now only a few moves away from demanding an immediate response. And yes of course I know what Trump said, it's hyperbole and he will respond in kind, as he's told to do by the Joint Chiefs, if it were his call and Putin knows it. Reality

Trump's ties/attitude - won't serve to stop him from invading and annexing other countries.

Meanwhile, adding to Bookfan's list, Betsy DeVos as education secretary? She has a "disastrous education legacy in Michigan".

One of the few states where literacy has gone down.

The troubling stories about Betsy DeVos keep coming. DeVos, Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee, has no educational experience beyond spending her massive wealth to undermine public schools by sending public education money to private schools in the form of vouchers and to charter schools. She and her family are major driving forces in Michigan’s laxness on “school choice,” and it’s been a disaster. Bridge Magazine recently looked at how “choice” has spelled segregation in DeVos’s hometown of Holland, Michigan:

Oh, gag. I was hoping to never again see her obnoxious face or hear her obnoxious voice.

More on Mnuchin - Treas. Sec. from Elizabeth Warren:

"Donald Trump promised that he was not going to have a government that was going to work for Wall Street. He promised that he was not going to have a revolving door," Warren told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "And then he turns around in his first big economic appointment is to appoint a Wall Street insider. A guy who made millions of dollars off mortgages that crushed families financially."

In picking Representative Tom Price, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen as his secretary of health and human services a man intent on systematically weakening, if not demolishing, the nation’s health care safety net.

Mr. Price, a Republican from Georgia, is a fierce opponent of the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 health reform law, and beyond that, supports plans to slash Medicare and Medicaid, which cover tens of millions of elderly, disabled and low-income Americans. He is against a woman’s right to choose and has backed legislation to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding.

One of my library patrons said her elderly mother loves Trump so much she has a picture of him on her window. Wait'll she finds out about this.

From The Guardian:
Climate change will stir 'unimaginable' refugee crisis, says military

Climate change is set to cause a refugee crisis of “unimaginable scale”, according to senior military figures, who warn that global warming is the greatest security threat of the 21st century and that mass migration will become the “new normal”.

The world holds its breath over the contact between Donald Trump and the President of Taiwan. Presidents from Ronald Regan to Obama not only refused to initiate contact with Taiwan but also denied their calls, for very good reason. They understood the danger in negating the impasse that had been established with mainland China in adopting a “One China” policy. The Taipei Times contends that the Trump transition team contacted the President of Taiwan, regardless of Trumps tweets that dismissed criticism and claimed that it was Taiwan who initiated contact. He fails to understand that it doesn't matter to the Chinese.

Any acknowledgement that Taiwan is a legitimate country can pivot relations between China and the U.S. to a precarious and dangerous path toward conflict. This is much more serious than Trump apologists contend, and those who understand our history of relations with China are gravely concerned. Democratic leadership has commented that "This is how wars start", Republicans have been characteristically silent, with a couple of self-serving exceptions. Even they know this is a serious breach, though they are too cowardly to say so. Where is the voice of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, or are they only concerned with privatizing Social Security, Medicare, and Veteran’s benefits?

bpatters, I'm a marine combat vet, Gen Mattis was my CO when I was in Iraq. That is all I can/will say -please respect that. I'll debate, discuss anything else, I'll allow myself to be the example you all hate when 60 million others cast the same vote but understand I won't discuss the General.

I won't be happy if Palin is in command of the VA. I don't think she will be.

Must I agree with everything he does? I know you don't agree with all Obama has done, Lynx, you especially.

China attacks Taiwan, we go to war, plain and simple. China has threatening military preparedness maneuvers off the Taiwanese coast constantly. it's time we address it. You can post a million links to the Daily Kos, i don't read them, just like I don't watch/read Fox news. I don't read/watch biased journalism, and it's a chore.

I'm, glad he did, it's about time. You think China wants war with us? We drive there frigging economy, and it's hurting as it is. China, when approached by Russia, to coordinate and dump a couple trillion dollars of US debt on the open global markets at the height of our financial crisis, said no thanks, we're not stupid.

They could have destroyed the US with that one move. If they didn't end us then, what makes you think they want to go to war with us?

You know from the tone of what I read here, it seems you all may be happy if we we went to war so you could say, see gpig, we were right. I don't think it's quite that bad but it's close.

I wasn't discussing him, nor asking you to. I was commenting on your insistence about voting for Trump because you thought Hillary was more likely to get us into a war, and his nomination of one the biggest Iran war-hawks on the planet.